Homecoming
by Kasey22
Summary: Whataya, pregnant or something?" Miles said, putting Juliet's glass down with a clunk and laughing at the absurdity of that possibility. He stretched his arm for Jin's glass as Juliet handed Jin's plate back to him. "No, Miles, I'm converting to Islam."


A/N: My take (wish) for what happens after the white flash at the end of Season Five, with a little extra stuff from the past thrown in for fun. Many thanks to makealist for beta-reading.

1. Dinner and a Show

It was Friday night and he was so happy. Juliet was in the kitchen finishing up dinner, Jin was setting the table and Miles was uncorking a bottle of Dharma Merlot. It had been a long week and they had the whole weekend to do absolutely nothing.

"Jin, you didn't grab glasses?" Miles was ready to pour.

"My hands were full of plates," Jin replied, carefully folding napkins as James settled himself into a dining room chair.

Miles ducked into the kitchen and returned with four wine glasses which he added to Jin's place-settings. Jin sat down opposite Sawyer and Juliet emerged from the kitchen with a huge lasagna. Miles sat down as Juliet settled their dinner on hot pads in the center of the table and started serving.

"Ladies first," Miles said, reaching for Juliet's glass.

Juliet looked up at that and said too quickly, "Oh, no...none for me." She had paused with her serving spoon held above Jin's plate, the cheese stretching into thin strings of gooyness. She seemed to realize too late that her refusal had come out in a stammering, almost guilty-sounding voice.

"Whataya, pregnant or something?" Miles said, putting Juliet's glass down with a clunk and laughing at the absurdity of that possibility. He stretched his arm for Jin's glass as Juliet handed Jin's plate back to him. "No, Miles, I'm converting to Islam," she quipped back, but her voice faltered again and she kept her eyes down as she sat and reached for Sawyer's plate and to serve him.

"Romeo, you want wine? Or are you abstaining too?" Miles' deadpan question snapped Sawyer back to reality. He'd always hated that nickname, but since he and Juliet had gotten together Miles insisted on calling him 'Romeo'. Ironically, he now knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of a shitty nickname. He wasn't thinking about that now, though. James had been staring at her for the entire ten seconds since Miles' reply to Juliet's refusal of wine. She'd tried to play it off but she still hadn't looked at him, she was ... yeah, she was _blushing _and it looked like her hands were shaking a little.

"Are you _pregnant_?!" The words left his mouth before he could stop them, and they sounded much more accusatory than he would have liked, but _Jesus_! James stood up so quickly that his chair scraped backwards on the floor. He looked down at Juliet as if for the first time.

"What?" Miles, just catching up, looked from Sawyer, on his feet, to Juliet, plate in one hand, spoon full of lasagna in the other. "Oh, my God."

"We should go." Jin was standing now too, tugging on Miles' jumpsuit.

Miles ignored him. "Are you really pregnant? For _real_?" He looked almost gleeful.

Juliet put James' plate down on his place mat and met his eyes, ignoring Miles and Jin. "Yes."

"What? Oh, my God! I knew it! I called it!" Miles turned to Jin and stood up. "Didn't I just call it? I mean I was kidding but holy shit I totally called it!"

"When were you plannin' on telling me!" Sawyer was still standing over Juliet, looking stunned and bewildered.

"I just found out. This afternoon. I was going to tell you tonight after ..." she jerked her head at Jin, who was dragging Miles to the front door.

James walked to the couch where he sank down and let his head drop into his hands. "Holy shit," was all he said.

"Wait, we haven't eaten yet. I'm starving," Miles whined as Jin pulled open the door and shoved him out. "Have a good night, guys," he said before pulling the door closed.

There was a pause and then, "Are you angry?" Juliet stood and walked over to where James sat on the couch. She was full of trepidation. The baby was not planned and she had not wanted to break the news like this. It was 1977, they'd been living in Dharmaville for three years and they had a routine. Things were good. She wasn't sorry she hadn't taken that sub way back when, but James was looking pretty sorry to be with her right now.

He looked up at her, "No, I'm not angry. I feel like I got the wind knocked outta me, that's all." She knelt down before him and took his hands in hers.

"What a way to break the news. Miles," she said, chagrined. "I wanted to tell you tonight after they were gone. Actually I wanted to cancel dinner altogether but when you came home with them..."

Sawyer remembered running into them on his way home and inviting them along since they were supposed to come over for dinner that night anyway. He gripped her hands, suddenly fearful. This woman meant more to him than anyone else he'd ever met. "A baby? Are you sure it'll be okay?"

Juliet looked down again. "No," she answered, honestly. "But I _think _it'll be okay. Women leave the island two weeks before they're due, which means they always make it to those last two weeks. It's what Amy plans to do and she's 7 months. I _think _it'll be okay." She leaned up so that her face was directly in front of his and he rested his forehead against hers. "A baby," he repeated, smiling a little. A chance to do it right. He'd probably never even meet Clementine and here was a chance to do it right.

"Daddy," she said, smiling back.

"Mommy," he replied, lifting his eyebrows and grinning. And then he kissed her, hard at first and then gently. He slid down off the couch and onto the floor with her. She felt so good to him, but then she always had. And then she was unzipping his jumpsuit, pushing it off his shoulders, touching him and he let his hands move over her body and she smiled at him again, and kissed him again.

2. Way Back When  
Juliet stood under the hot spray and decided that she would set up camp right here in the shower. It was her second shower since she and James and Miles and Jin had been accepted by the Dharma Initiative. She and James were sharing a house and Miles and Jin were sharing one right next door, and so far their cover story was working and they were able to move about the barracks freely. Last night Sawyer had bought them two weeks and had convinced her to stay.

She rubbed shampoo into her hair and sighed, blissfully aware that while this wasn't a permanent solution, it was a very good working remedy. As she rinsed her hair, though, she suddenly heard the bathroom door open. She froze and turned her face toward the opaque shower curtain that separated the bathtub from the rest of the tiny bathroom.

"Just me," came the gruff voice.

"James? What do you think you're doing?"

"There's only one bathroom and you've been hoggin' it and I gotta pee."

To her horror she heard the toilet seat go up and a zipper go down and then the heavy male stream of James _pissing _into a toilet bowl.

"Gross!" she yelled at him. "What is _wrong _with you?"

"Please. All this time, tramping through the jungle, you've seen me pee before. And, in case you forgot, I've seen you pee before. So calm the hell down." He was right, she knew but she hated it. Just when she thought she was back to civilization James Ford pees during her shower.

"You are disgusting," she tells him, shutting off the water. Her glorious alone-time under the hot water was ruined.

A towel with a hand attached came through the gap between the shower curtain and the wall. She yanked it from him and wrapped it around herself before snapping the curtain back with one hand. Luckily he had finished.

"If we're going to share this bathroom we need to have a few ground rules," she started, lifting one foot over the tub. He was staring at her, arms crossed over his chest, looking bored. She saw that the seat was still up and she jerked her eyes away. This bathroom was too small for two people, she thought. "For one thing..." and then, faster than lightening, the foot still in the tub slipped and she lost her balance, heading straight for the floor.

"Whoa!" James said, catching her neatly and lifting her over the tub and onto the bathroom floor. "Don't fall," he said quietly, holding her tight.

She was breathing hard and her wet hair was pressed between them, soaking his shirt. He'd clearly had a shower or two as well; she could smell the soap and the shampoo and the distinctive Sawyerness of him. "Thanks," she says, trying to rearrange her features back to the blank mask she'd been using as a shied for as long as she could remember.

"You really mad at me?" he asked.

Juliet let her body relax as she shook her head. She suddenly thought that she could never be mad at him. She suddenly thought that she could let this man catch her for the rest of her life. He released her and she tugged the towel more securely around her body. "Good," he saed. "Cause I just woke up and really had to go." The way he's looking at her, with big eyes and raised brows, all innocence and boyish dimples makes her laugh.

"Whatever," she told him, shaking her head ruefully. "You're certainly right about the loss of privacy when your running for your life in the middle of a jungle."

He opened the door, letting steam escape the hot space. "See you on the other side," he said before closing it behind him.

Juliet stood there a minute, trying to regroup. They'd been enemies and campmates and allies and now housemates. She blushed as she remembered how he'd once decided she'd been gone for too long and come looking for her, only to discover her squatting behind a tree. How she had wanted the jungle to open up and swallow her whole. She closed the lid of the toilet and flushed.

She'd never been held in his arms, though. She's never _wanted _to be held in his arms, though.

She opend the bathroom door and crept out and across the hall into the small room they share. There were two single beds against opposite walls, a dresser, a closet and one nightstand between the beds. She closed and locked the door before dropping the towel and pulling on some clean clothes. Thanks to several of the women in Dharmaville and the commissary, Juliet had clean clothes. She coils her still-wet hair into a knot that she secured in place with an elastic band and went back to the bathroom to hang up her towel.

xoxoxo

That night, Miles and Jin show up with several bottles of wine. "We're celebrating," Miles announced.

"Celebrating what?" grouched, James from the couch and his book.

"Celebrating what?" repeated Miles. "How about the fact that we're not sleeping in a jungle tonight? How about that? How about we have roofs over our heads and clean underwear for the first time in a long, long time?"

"I'll drink to clean underwear," Juliet said.

"That's what I'm saying," Miles said, heading to the kitchen. "Where are your glasses? Never mind, I got 'em."

Miles poured and they all drank.

"You guys settling in over there?" Juliet asked.

"Pretty much," said Miles, nodding.

"He snores," Jin said.

"So does he," Juliet said, jerking her head at James. "And he leaves the seat up."

Jin guffawed at this and James shook his head, rolling his eyes to heaven. "How'd I get stuck living with such a _girl_?"

"We drew straws," Miles reminded him, topping everyone's glasses off.

"Yeah, I remember," James said.

By the time Jin and Miles stumbled back their house, all three bottles of wine were gone and all four were feeling pretty good. Sawyer was sitting on the couch, leaning his head back when he felt the cushions shift. Juliet had settled herself on the other end and raised her legs up to his lap so that she was lying down. "I cannot believe I drank so much," she was saying. "I cannot believe it's only eleven. We are going to wake up with massive hangovers tomorrow and we won't even be able to say we were up late doing wild and crazy things."

James grinned and then chuckled. He took her feet in his big hands and started rubbing them absently. She had such tiny feet, such delicate feet. She closed her eyes and moaned a little. "That feels good. You can keep that up."

"Oh, you think so, huh?"

She giggled at his mock-annoyance and lifted her hands up to undo the knot of hair she'd put up that morning. His hands stopped moving on her feet and she opened her eyes to see that he was staring at her. The shirt she was wearing was riding up a little and her bare stomach was visible. Also, with her hands over her head her breasts were high and her shirt wasn't covering them completely either. Her mouth suddenly felt dry so she licked her lips and suddenly he was on her, teeth scraping against her mouth, pushing her legs apart, touching her everywhere. She arched her body up to his and kissed him back, pushing her hands through is long hair, squeezing his waist between her thighs.

Juliet felt cold air on her stomach and she could tell that he'd pushed it up over her bra. Just as quickly, he pulled the cup of her bra down and was rolling the nipple of her left breast in his fingers while his tongue forced it's way into her mouth. She unbuttoned his shirt as quickly as she could but it was difficult with their bodies pressed so tightly together. She wanted him naked as quickly as possible. Her head was spinning. She reached for the snap of his jeans and she could feel him suck in his breath as her fingers met his bare stomach. She could also feel something else now, long and hard and she was delighted. She knew it was the wine. She knew she was just drunk and that it would all be different in the morning, but she didn't care.

After three years of being held prisoner here, after escaping and all the drama with the other passengers of flight 815, after the time travel and losing so many patients and friends...Goodwin...she deserved this. She deserved a hot, mindless fuck with this man who was probably thinking about Kate right now anyway. She didn't care. She just wanted to come and she wanted to come with him.

Finally she got his pants off, just as he undid her bra. He went to work on her pants next, unbuttoning and unzipping and pushing them down past her knees and ankles. Finally he used his feet to push them all the way off her legs.

"Are these the clean undies I been hearing so much about?" he growled.

"They are," she said, hooking one finger into the waistband of his boxer shorts. "And these?"

"Brand, spanking new," he said as he stood up to take them off. Somehow he'd also lost his shirt and he was suddenly standing over her completely naked, tanned, smooth, gorgeous. She reached out and stroked him, concentrating on what she was doing. She licked her lips again and before he could help himself he groaned, "_Jesus_."

Before she could get very far, though, he was ripping her underwear off. "Sorry, but it's been too long. You start doing that and we won't even cross the finish line if you know what I mean." He reached for his discarded jeans and pulled out a foil disc. "Where'd you get that?" "Commissary, along with the shorts. Didn't think I'd get a chance to use 'em so soon." And then he was with her again and he buried his face in her breasts and he was inside her, quickly, in one smooth movement. She could feel that she was so wet that he didn't have to slow down and allow for her body to adjust to his. He just fit, perfectly and tightly into her body. At the exquisite sensation Juliet gasped, "Fuck!"

James laughed, loving that he'd gotten her to lose control over herself. The Juliet he knew in real life didn't swear, so he never would have guessed that she'd say something like that in the heat of the moment. She felt so good to him. So hot and tight and wet that he thought he might lose his mind as he began moving in and out. Faster and faster he went and she was right there with him, matching him, meeting him, moaning under her breath, "Fuck! Yes! Fuck! Yes!" He bent his head down and suckled her breasts again and he could feel her spasms, he could feel her coming around him and it was too much. He let go and allowed the waves of pleasure to crash over him.

A long time later, James was roused by a small voice in his ear. "James," it whispered. "Jamie." This got his attention. No one had ever called him 'Jamie' before. "Jamie," the voice said again.

He lifted his head and saw Juliet lying under him. They were both naked as jay-birds and she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Her hair was spilling around her head like a golden corona and he recalled exactly what they'd been doing that had caused him to half pass out. Between the wine and the sex he was about done in. "Did you just call me 'Jamie'?" he asked in the same whisper she was using.

She smiled shyly and he realized that she didn't do that enough. "I did."

"No one's ever called me that before." He shifted his weight so that she wasn't not bearing the full brunt of it.

"If you don't like it," she began but he cut her off, "I didn't say that. It's not bad when you say it."

She blushed and he could tell that even under the influence of wine she was feeling a little embarrassed at what they'd just done.

"You okay?" he asked.

Juliet nods. He leaned down and kissed her again, a long, hot kiss that made her dizzy as happiness settled in around her.

3. Homecoming

The white flash blinded her and she closed her eyes, waiting for death to make the pain stop. And then it did.

Juliet opened her eyes carefully. She was lying on a bed, in the dark and it was comfortable. She quickly ascertained that nothing was broken, there was no more blood and that everything felt more or less all right. Did it work? Could the time reset have actually _worked_?

Where was she? She turned her head on the pillow first to the right and then the left but it was too dark to see. "Jamie? James are you there?" No response. Gingerly she sat up and fumbled around, trying to figure out where there might be a lamp. Finally, with her eyes adjusting to the darkness, she discovered a nightstand to her left and a lamp. It felt familiar somehow but also foreign. When Juliet turned the lamp on and the room sprang into focus she knew why.

She was in her house on the island in Old Otherton as James had taken to calling it. The barracks. Where she'd been living during the three years Ben Linus had refused to let her go. Which was odd, because even though she was back here, with her clothes draped over a chair and the sheer impossibility that it was anything other than 2004 she had memories that took her to the beach, the passengers of flight 815, the cargo ship, the helicopter, the time flashes, living in the Dharma Initiative...James.

Juliet lay back down on her pillow. She needed to think. Scrubbing the heels of her hands against her eyes and then pushing her hair back from her face, she tried to think logically. If time had been reset then she was right back where she'd started. Flight 815 would fly overhead today and land safely in L.A. Kate would be in shackles, Jack would be mourning his father, James would have just killed a man.

Would they remember, too? Was there a way to finally get off this island and find out?

And then it hit her. Ben. Would Ben remember? Could she somehow, finally, talk him into letting her go?

And then the other shoe dropped and she fumbled through her clothes to her stomach. Was she still pregnant? Her heart seized in her chest. More than ever Juliet wanted to have this baby. She remembered as if it were yesterday the way Miles had blurted out her secret and the look on James' face. Her body felt the same as ever, though, the same as it had felt yesterday. She moved her hands up to her breasts and squeezed experimentally and - Yes! - the pain, the discomfort were there. She hadn't started showing yet but somehow, through some miracle, she seemed to still be pregnant. Juliet sighed with relief and touched her stomach again. Thank God.

If anything could convince Ben it might be this. As much as he was crazy and possessive, she didn't think he'd want her dead. Better off the island with someone else's child than dead and gone, right? Please, thought Juliet, please.

She got out of bed and standing upright she could feel it even more. The slight heaviness in her body, even at this early stage was something she couldn't deny. When Amy had given birth she herself had been ten weeks along, which gave her just 8 weeks to get off the island and that was if she were lucky. Symptoms didn't start becoming prevalent and life-threatening until half-way through the second trimester. Usually.

In the kitchen she found that the clock over the kitchen table pointed to five-thirty am. The sun was just starting to rise. Juliet surveyed herself in the mirror and discovered that she was still wearing the red peasant blouse and jeans that she'd had on when the bomb had gone off. She closed her eyes. How had the island survived? How had the Others, let alone the Dharma Initiative lived long enough for anything more to have happened to them?

Questions she didn't have answers to.

Juliet took a shower and changed into clean clothes. Everything she'd left behind when Ben disbanded their group was exactly where it was supposed to be. She waited another hour and then walked swiftly to Ben's house and knocked on the door.

With effort she tried to remember the last thing she'd said to him in 2004 before the day of the crash. She'd confronted him about the lie. She'd just received his x-ray and she'd asked him how he could have cured Rachel's cancer if he himself _now _had cancer.

Ben opened the door and looked at her with surprise. She had never paid a visit this early in the morning before and her thought process was twofold: 1. catch him by surprise so that if he does remember he can't hide it from her and 2. shock him with the news of her pregnancy and force him to see the direness of the situation.

"Juliet," he said mildly. "What can I do for you? Come to level more accusations at me?"

"No, Ben. I've come to tell you that you have to put me on the next sub that leaves."

Ben signed and turned around, ushering her into the house. "We've been through this, Juliet. I can't."

"I'm pregnant."

His reaction did not disappoint. Ben shot around and stared at her with hard, narrowed eyes, his shock was mingled with anger. "You're _what_?"

"Pregnant."

"Well that's just great. Goodwin will have two families."

"It's not Goodwin's," Juliet said in a tone of voice that was purely conversational.

Ben stared at her again. "Exactly how many men on this island are you passing the time with?" Besides me, was the unstated end of that sentence.

"None of your business. I'm almost into my second trimester and you and I both know that if I don't leave I'm dead. Along with everything else, do you want that on your conscience?

"What do you know about my conscience?" he snapped

"Nothing," Juliet said, still mild. "But I'm not wrong. This situation comes down to this: you can either let me go and live or you can make me stay and die."

"How do I know you're really pregnant? Why should I believe you?"

"I'm happy to take a test," she replied, calm and steadfast as ever.

Ben paused and she held his gaze. She could practically see the wheels turning in his head. She was his prize, his possession but with another man's baby she was suddenly less desirable. An affair with someone he could easily manipulate was one thing, this new development meant that he had failed. She would never be completely his again, if she ever was to begin with.

"Fine," he said, with bitterness and finality. "Next sub leaves at the end of the week, you've got a seat on it. Start packing."

Juliet almost said, "Thank you," but didn't. He was giving her something that she'd been begging for for two and a half years, something he'd once promised her and then lied about. She would not thank him for keeping his word.

By that Friday Juliet had packed the things she wanted to take with her and given away everything else. She'd been to the regular camp doctor and had been assured that the baby was doing just fine. She'd decided not to say goodbye to Ben but he was on the dock when she got there, which shouldn't have surprised her. Of course he was going to make one final play. He was Ben Linus.

Goodwin had been a much bigger issue. She could barely remember their affair; for her, James Ford was much closer to her mind and heart. Still, in that alternate reality where flight 815 had crashed, Goodwin died because of her and she owed him a proper farewell at the very least. It certainly hadn't been easy, though. Word had gotten around, thanks to Ben, that she was pregnant and Goodwin's reaction had been devastating. He'd burst into her house the day before, delighted and smiling and practically singing with joy. "I just heard! You're pregnant and Ben is letting you go! I'm so happy!" He pressed one large palm to her abdomen and said softly, "I'm so excited. When will you come back? Right after or ....?"

Deep breath, Juliet told herself. "Um...I'm so sorry but it's...it's not yours." She looked at him and saw exactly what she expected to see: surprise, realization, betrayal.

He removed his hand from her body and said in a cold voice, "I'm sorry, but _how _is it not mine? Who the hell's is it?" The man was cheating on his wife and angry with her for cheating on him. Isn't it ironic.

"It doesn't matter who's it is. It's mine, and Ben is finally letting me go. That's what matters. You of all people know how badly I want to go home. Can you please be happy for me that I get to go home?"

"You've made a fool of me."

"No," Juliet began but he had his hand up, not wanting to listen.

"This is bullshit," Goodwin said before taking two steps back to the front door, opening it and throwing back at her before leaving, "_Whore_." And then the door was closed and Juliet sat down on the couch hating Ben as much as ever.

He stood before her now on the dock, between her and sub, holding out his hand for her to shake. "It's been a true pleasure, Juliet. I wish you the very best of luck in all your future endeavors."

Juliet shook his hand warily and said, "Thanks, Ben." As she disengaged her hand from his he held on a little longer and said, "You know, you don't really have to go. Maybe your treatments will finally work. You could be your greatest experiment."

"No, Ben," she said firmly and calmly, "I have to go." And without another word she pushed past him and climbed aboard the sub.

Juliet was led past the little kitchen where she and Kate and James had decided to break out and go back to the island a week ago...thirty years ago. She still couldn't believe that James had allowed it. She was pregnant with his child and she'd somehow managed to talk him into going back to stop crazy Jack from detonating a hydrogen bomb. Of course, she hadn't consulted him before she'd knocked the guard out and unlocked the cuffs.

She drank her juice and settled into her bunk, waiting for the drugs to kick in.

Images flashed behind her closed eyes. Juliet was suddenly back on the lifeboat, rowing to shore, the sub sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean behind them. They were at Rose and Bernard's camp and Bernard was talking about being with the one you love and James was looking at Kate. Her heart fell all over again. She was breaking up the fight between James and Jack, yelling at them to stop. She was telling James that Jack was right. "It don't care who I looked at. I'm with _you_," he was saying, staring at her with hurt and fear in his eyes. He couldn't believe she was doing this.

"In body yes but - "

"Bullshit! We're a family now, I love you and that's that."

"If it's meant to be we'll find each other on the other side."

"I don't wanna haveta find you again!"

"We shouldn't have been together," Juliet said, tears welling up and spilling down her cheeks. "If you hadn't jumped off that helicopter you'd be with Kate right now. In my heart I always knew I wasn't your first choice but while we were here alone I was okay with it. Now that she's back, though..."

"So you've already made the decision, huh? I don't even get a _say_? _Please_." James took her upper arms in his hands and tried to get her to look him in the eye. "Please don't do this," he begged.

"It's the only way we'll be free."

And then she's suddenly being dragged down a dark hole, chains wrapped tight around her legs and waist. James is screaming at her not to let go and she can see on his face that it was her all along. Kate was never a threat, not really. He really did love her. But the scaffolding is cracked and if she doesn't let go he'll fall too and she crying and telling him that she loves him and then there's nothing but space between them as she falls and falls. At the bottom she cannot believe she's survived, cannot believe the mistake she's made. He loved _her_! Not Kate! And they could be on the sub right now, asleep together and on their way to safety but _no_. She had to go and make one last humongous mistake.

And then she's being shaken awake by a crew member and Juliet has a horrible thought: what if it's all fake? What if she goes topside and finds out that she's back where she started _again _and Ben is there with false apologies and she's forced to kill him? For argument's sake, that is.

With shaky legs, Juliet rises from her bunk and makes her way out and her relief is enormous. She touches her stomach and takes a deep breath of polluted Los Angeles air, and tries not to cry.

From the seaport she hails a cab and heads to the bank, where she produces her expired drivers license and a story about how she's been on an extended trip. From the bank she checks into a hotel and starts making phone calls. She doesn't own a laptop anymore so she can't Google anyone but information is still free so she 411s every name she can think of, starting with James Ford. Whom she discovers is unlisted.

Juliet wants to the throw the phone against the wall. She tries Jack next and gets a home number but there's no answer. Down the list she goes but either no one's home or no one's answering. She cannot believe that after all this she can't get in touch with anyone. She's left messages everywhere but no one's calling her back. God knows if they'll even remember.

Finally, Juliet picks up the phone again and calls Rachel in Miami. It is as tearful a conversation as you'd expect and Juliet promises to be on the first plane to Florida she can get after taking care of a few things. She doesn't mention that the "few things" were finding James Ford and telling him how sorry she was to have made such an terrible mistake. She doesn't know if or how he can ever forgive her.

As soon as she puts the phone down it rings and she snatches the receiver back to her ear. "Hello!"

"Juliet? It's Jack."

"Jack! Oh, my God. Do you remember? Tell me you remember."

"Yeah, I remember. We all remember. I honestly can't believe you're on the other end of this phone. We thought..."

"I know. I know. Listen, where's James? I need to see him."

"He..." there's a pause and then, "he took it really badly. He won't talk to any of us."

"Tell me where he is. I have to see him right away!"

Jack rattled off the address and Juliet thanked him and was out the door in seconds flat. She took another cab to a bad neighborhood and sat staring at the seedy motel before her. He was in room 211, Jack had said, on the second floor. She drew a deep breath and got out. As soon as the door closed behind her the cab sped away. This was no place for a woman alone, a voice inside her said. But I don't care. I have to get him back.

Juliet climbed the stairs and found the door easily, which was when her hands started shaking. She knocked and heard nothing from inside. She knocked again, louder this time and heard movement. She slammed her fist against the door three times and yelled, "James! Open up!"

"Go away! I'm done talking!"

"I won't go away! It's me!" People were starting to stare at her and she was getting uncomfortable. These were not people she wanted noticing her. She knocked again, "Please let me in."

She heard feet stomping toward the door and it was suddenly yanked open and there he was, screwing up his face to scream at whoever was stupid enough to come knocking.

But instead he stared at her, dumbstruck, until she said, "Can I come in?"

James opened the door wider and dragged her in, slamming the door closed and then nearly broke a rib by hugging her as tightly has he could. "I don't believe it," he gasped. "I don't believe it. How did you get here?"

"It's a long story," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on for dear life. "I can't believe I made it to be honest."

He was kissing her cheeks then and her neck and her mouth and they were falling back on the bed and she let herself smile for the first time in a week. She told him about waking up in her bed and going to Ben.

"How did you get him to let you go?"

"I told him I was pregnant," she said slowly and clearly.

James stared at her, his face changing from disbelief to pure joy. "You did?"

"I don't know how or why but not only did I survive the fall but the baby survived, too. He's okay."

"_He_?"

"Well, it," she said, smiling. And then she sobered and said seriously, "I'm so sorry I did that to you. I was so wrong. I don't know if you can forgive me, but I had to find you and tell you how sorry I am."

"As long as you promise never to do somethin' like that ever again, I forgive you," he said, holding her close.

"Easiest promise I've ever made."

"I love you, Juliet."

"I love you, too, Romeo." And he squeezed her hard and then tickled her the way he always did when she called him that.

And life, finally, was good.


End file.
